Oak Hills businessman faces multiple fraud charges

Monday

Apr 1, 2013 at 3:11 PMApr 3, 2013 at 8:09 AM

Rebecca Howes, Staff Writer

OAK HILLS • A 42-year-old Oak Hills man has been charged with multiple counts of tax evasion, conducting business as an uninsured employer and resisting arrest, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.

Bhagwant Singh was located in Hesperia by District Attorney Investigators last week and taken into custody after a 10 month investigation. He was booked into the Victor Valley jail before a $150,000 bail bond was posted on his behalf, according to sheriff's booking records.

Singh is out of custody awaiting his May 29 arraignment at the Victorville courthouse.

If convicted, Singh faces six years in prison and $20,000 in fines, as well as restitution for all back unemployment taxes owed.

In May 2012, Singh was the subject of a criminal investigation conducted by the San Bernardino County District Attorney, Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit and the California Department of Industrial Relations, according to a news release from the district attorney's office.

The investigation revealed that Singh, who owns A&J Shippers, Inc., and Los Angeles Express Trucking Companies in Hesperia, had failed to maintain workers' compensation insurance for his employees and also failed to pay state-required employee payroll taxes, according to the release.

Criminal charges were filed against Singh in March for four felony counts of tax evasion, four misdemeanor counts of doing business as an uninsured employer, three misdemeanor counts of failure to observe stop order and one misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying of a peace officer, the release stated.

The case will be prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney David Simon, lead attorney for the Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit.

According to Simon, this prosecution is part of a recent push by the unit to crack down on businesses operating without appropriate licenses or insurance who pay workers in cash and fail to deduct withholding and unemployment taxes.

Rebecca Howes can be reached at rhowes@vvdailypress.com or at (760) 951-6276.

Get complete stories every day with the "exactly as printed" Daily Press E-edition, only $5 per month! Click here to try it free for 7 days. To subscribe to the Daily Press in print or online, call (760) 241-7755, 1-800-553-2006 or click here.